This invention relates to closure members for containers, bottles, and the like, and more particularly, to closure members which are adapted for use on dispensing containers for medicinal agents.
Child-resistant closures are used widely in the pharmaceutical industry. Closures for threaded, screw-type bottles generally consist of a two piece housing including an inner housing member and an outer housing member. The inner housing member has a threaded inner surface and acts as the actual screw-type closure of the bottle. The outer housing member nests over the inner housing member. The user handles the outer housing member in opening or closing the bottle. A mechanism, typically a ratchet-type system, is disposed between the two housing members to transmit the user's twisting torque from the outer housing member to the inner housing member when the outer housing member is turned in the closing direction, typically clockwise. When the outer housing member is turned in the closing direction, the two housing members turn together as one single unit. When the user turns the outer housing member in an opening direction, typically counterclockwise, the outer housing member slips and rotates by itself without transmitting the user's twisting torque to the inner housing member.
This ratchet-type mechanism is typically disposed so as to require that the user depress downwardly on the outer housing member simultaneously while turning the outer housing member in the opening direction in order to remove the closure. To this end, part of the ratchet mechanism is provided on the inner surface of the outer housing member and located to engage a complementary part of the ratchet mechanism which is provided on the outer surface of the inner housing member in such fashion that the two housing members turn as one single unit.
The act of applying downward pressure to the closure while simultaneously turning it in the opening direction is difficult to understand and accomplish, and most young children cannot do so. Therefore, closures such as those described are commonly referred to as "child-resistant" closures.
A disadvantage of child-resistant closures of the type described above is that they may be difficult to use for certain individuals, rendering it difficult for them to open their medicine bottles. Such individuals include, for example, elderly, infirm, ill or otherwise incapacitated persons. Although at the present time, child-resistant closures are required for containers for prescription medications, the use of such a closure is at the individual's or patient's discretion so that, for example, an elderly patient suffering from arthritis who does not have children will not have to suffer the difficulty or inconvenience of using a closure in an environment in which it is not required.
However, child-resistant closures such as those described above are typically provided on "unit-of-use" containers which are dispensed from pharmacists to patients as shipped from the pharmaceutical manufacturer. Thus, patients have no choice about whether or not to use the child-resistant closure, and frequently patients without children may close their containers loosely or not at all, practices which are likely to lead to chemical deterioration or instability of the contained medication.